lithograph on paper, 19/45

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When a printshop was established in Pangnirtung in 1973, eight-year-old Andrew Qappik watched his uncles Solomon and Imoona Karpik at work, and they encouraged him to draw. In 1978 five of his drawings were published as prints in the Pangnirtung annual collection. Since then, Qappik’s prints have been included in every Pangnirtung annual collection, and in 1999 his designs were selected for the coat-of-arms and flag of the newly created Canadian territory of Nunavut. Qappik is one of a few young Inuit artists who expand the boundaries of Inuit imagery, reflecting modern-day life and artistic concerns. In this lithograph he applies his realistic style to a shamanic transformation and interprets it in a contemporary manner, stating: “A shaman would have a champion animal which he or she could become...Today the transformation occurs in humans with an open mind.”